Here are some new resources and news for the field of higher education.

College and Career Pathways: Stories of Innovation—May 2, 2017 Please join the Senate Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus, in conjunction with the Alliance for Excellent Education, for a briefing highlighting innovative approaches across the country to college and career pathways that have led to positive outcomes for traditionally underserved students.

Return of the Near-Completers: State progress with adult students As we all know, many states continue to push for increased attainment rates aligned with state workforce needs. In the quest to increase attainment, many states began focusing on the near-completer population to help adults return to higher education for credential completion. However, this population proves to be difficult to reach and comes with barriers to returning including financial roadblocks, full-time work schedules and campus accessibility. In response to these barriers, some states introduced policies and programs to ease the transition back to higher education and increase accessibility for this student population. A few state examples include Indiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Can Requiring a Post-Graduation Plan Motivate Students? Chicago Thinks So. “What are you doing after graduation?” High school students may grow weary of such inevitable questions from family and friends, or anxiety-ridden as they contemplate their college or career decisions. But now, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has proposed requiring students to report more formally on their post-graduation plans in order to get their diplomas.

Implementing Guided Pathways Across the United States, a growing number of colleges are redesigning their programs and student support services according to the “guided pathways” model. Central to this approach are efforts to clarify pathways to program completion, career advancement, and further education. This report provides insight into how colleges are planning and implementing “guided pathways” reforms based on the early work of 30 colleges participating in the American Association of Community Colleges’ (AACC) Pathways Project. (Community College Research Center)

Georgia’s Next Stab at Efficiency System Chancellor Steve Wrigley announced a new comprehensive administrative review process Tuesday that will have the 28-institution, 321,551-student system searching for efficiencies and improved processes. (Inside Higher Ed, April 19)

State Support for Higher Education Increased, Not Counting Illinois Illinois’ budget crisis and resulting higher education crisis made the state enough of an outlier to weigh down several key markers in the 2016 State Higher Education Finance report. The report annually offers an in-depth look at the breakdown of state and local funding, tuition revenue, enrollment, and degree completion across public higher education, a sector that enrolls roughly three-quarters of students in U.S. postsecondary education. (Inside Higher Ed)

2016 State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report from the State Higher Education Executive Officers association The report annually provides an in-depth look at state and local funding, tuition revenue, enrollment, and degree completion across public higher education, which enrolls about three-quarters of the students in U.S. postsecondary education. This year Illinois is noted as an extreme negative funding outlier due to the continuing state budget impasse.